Keeping count: Seeing the need

I caught up with Dave Ferguson a few days ago via Skype. He wanted to talk about metrics—the importance of measuring the right things. Dave’s questions got me thinking.

I’m not the measuring sort of guy, but I know it’s important to track the right things.

From a church planting movements (CPM) perspective there are six essentials we must track. Seeing the need is the first.

1. Seeing the need

Jesus saw the need. He saw that people were lost, like sheep without a shepherd. He saw the 200,000 people who lived in Galilee. He saw every town and village in Galilee—all 175 of them—and he visited each one.

He trained his disciples to see the need in Israel and then to see the need to disciple the nations.

When Peter and the early disciples were stuck only on reaching Jews, Jesus intervened and to shake them up and show them the need of the Gentiles (Acts 10).

When Jesus confronted Saul on the Damascus road, he showed him that both Jews and Gentiles were blind and living in darkness, they needed to be rescued from the power of Satan so they could receive forgiveness of sins (Acts 26:18).

Eventually Paul saw the need of who regions of the Roman Empire. He saw the millions of people who lived between Jerusalem all the way to Rome and beyond. He knew what he job was. He must plant reproducing churches in the major cities from Jerusalem to Illycum (Rom 15:19) before moving to Spain and the western half of the Empire.

When Paul was based in Ephesus he saw the whole city of 200,000 people and the whole region of Asia Minor (modern Turkey) and he multiplied workers like Epaphras who reached the cities of Colosse, Laodicea and Hierapolis (Acts 19:10; Col 4:12).

How do we keep track “seeing the need”?

Simple.

Movement leaders don’t ask, “What can I do?” they ask, “What needs to be done?” They don’t see just congregations, They see unreached neighbourhoods, cities, regions and nations. . They ask, “What does look like when the job is done?” CPM practitioners call that the “endvision.”

If you don’t see the need, don’t despair. You are in good company—the twelve Apostles, the early church, and Saul who became Paul—none of them saw the need because of a book they read or a brainstorming session or their natural creative genius.

Seeing the need is something you go to God for. You aren’t smart enough, or compassionate enough, prayerful enough, or bold enough. You see the need by grace not works.

Next we’ll look at: Connecting with people.

Posted in (CPM), church, Church planting movements (CPM), CRM Australia, CRM CoNext, Movements, planting, Steve Addison | No Comments »

Mising church

Here’s a story from the draft to my next book. I’m looking forward to catching up with Nathan and Lipok in India next week.

It’s early Sunday morning. Lipok and Nathan are traveling down the mighty Brahmaputra River to visit the believers among the Mising people of Assam, a state in northeastern India. They travel by ferry and then on the dirt roads of an island that is home to 300,000 people.

The Mising people live along the fertile riverbeds of the Brahmaputra, which they regard as holy.

They live in thatched houses raised on stilts that provide protection from floodwaters during the rainy season and from wild animals during the dry season. When the floodwaters rise, the Mising pack up their few possessions and move across the river or downstream where stilts have already been erected.

The Mising deal with annual floods, malaria and water-borne diseases. yet they continue to live along the banks and tributaries of their beloved Brahmaputra River.
Lipok and Nathan have been working with the Missing people for three years; they teach them to follow Jesus and make disciples up and down the river system that is their world. One local worker has started three hundred churches in his “stream.” He can go where Western personnel and funding can never reach.

When the Mising church gathers there is no printed order of service and no powerpoint presentations. No one receives a salary, and they don’t need a church budget. A permanent building would be useless along the flood prone Brahmaputra River. The Mising believers’ guide for church is Acts 2:38—47.

They begin a meeting by confessing their sins and repenting. They baptize new believers outside in the river. They teach the word of God, celebrate the Lord’s Supper, and pray for the sick. They share their needs with each other and, if possible those needs are dealt with immediately through a gift or offer of help. Worship flows out of a response to God’s word. They finish by reminding one another of the gospel and by committing to go out and share before the sun sets that day.

A story like that of the Mising believers reminds us that our experience of church shaped by the world we live in. It also helps us think about what essentials all followers of Jesus share across time and different cultures.

Posted in 4. Communities, 5. Adaptive methods, CRM Australia, CRM CoNext, Global South, Steve Addison | No Comments »

Marshmellows and the decline of the Western civilization

Here’s a great parable for the decline of Western civilisation.

It all comes down the marshmallow test.

Looks like I’m in trouble.

more. . .

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Ed Stetzer in Melbourne

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The fifth horseman of the apocalypse

I enjoy books that help me see the world through different eyes. Here’s an opening paragraph from Goldman’s (aka Spengler) new book that did just that.

Population decline is the elephant in the world’s living room. As a matter of arithmetic, we know that the social life of most developed countries will break down within two generations. Two out of three Italians and three of four Japanese will be elderly dependents by 2050. If present fertility rates hold, the number of Germans will fall by 98 percent over the next two centuries. No pension and health care system can support such an inverted population pyramid. Nor is the problem limited to the industrial nations. Fertility is falling at even faster rates—indeed, at rates never before registered anywhere—in the Muslim world. The world’s population will fall by as much as a fifth between the middle and the end of the twenty-first century, by far the worst decline in human history.

The surprise is not the declining birthrate in the West—the US is an exception—but that it is matched by the decline in Islamic societies from Morocco to Iran.

“How Civilizations Die: (And Why Islam Is Dying Too)” (David Goldman)

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Just a stroll from our campsite

I took this on Gillard’s Beach, Mimosa Rocks National Park, a short stroll from our campsite.

Headed inland and home via the Snowy Mountains.

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Stewart5 picture site

Melissa is really good about taking and posting pics of our family. She created a companion site to this one on shutterfly. I recommend you check it out and subscribe to receive updates when she does updates there.

http://stewartdot5.shutterfly.com

Posted in Arthur & Melissa Stewart, CRM NieuCommunities, Melissa, South Africa, stewart family pictures, stewart5, Updates | No Comments »

Steve and Michelle head for the beach

It’s summer in Australia. Michelle and I will hitch up the camper-trailer, and leave tonight for a beach somewhere on the south coast of New South Wales.

Perhaps we’ll find a spot at Bournda National Park.

I expect to be back, blogging around January 20.

Have a great summer break if you live in the southern hemisphere. Suffer in silence if you’re a northerner.

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year-end update (and check out the new website theme!)

As we close out 2011, we are thankful for so many things. After relocating to Cape Town the previous June, this year was about settling in. School relationships, houses, ministry opportunities – submerging into the spaces God had opened up. We thank God for being so present during this transition. We thank God for His consistent and sometimes surprising provision. We thank God for introducing us to so many “people of peace” (Luke 10:5-6) here in Cape Town – those who have welcomed us, been open to the Gospel, and connected us to ways and relationships where God is at work. We thank God for allowing us time with our families who have visited and enabling us to stay well connected to several family members currently battling with significant illness. Finally, we are thankful that God continues to love and grow us as a family and each of us individually as we live seek Him.

I have also been reflecting a bit over these past weeks on the nature of our work. So much of it is helping others discover and live out whom God has created them to be – salvation, freedom, discipleship. As such, the tangible results we see are not “ours” to claim as they come to fruition in others. Yet we know God has used us to play a crucial role. And there is something so healthy about this – not being able to call the work of God as our own. God sees this work and says, “well done.”  AND this year we have been blessed by so many others who have seen our lives and ministry and joined us with Amen!

In this update, I want to point to a few milestones from the year that I think you will be excited to hear as a friend who has been interested in our lives and ministry. These are some of the things we’ve been involved with that may not have appeared in other newsletters or updates, but are significant and indicative of the ministry we are involved with here. So, family updates and things we’ve been learning will appear elsewhere…

Get-togethers with Jesus friends

I’ve written quite a bit in other places (esp. at http://differentchurch.wordpress.com) about the need for different types of churches to reach people here in Cape Town. What I haven’t written a lot about is the church we have been planting this year. It really came about as God’s burden on our hearts for something to help people experience God in life-giving ways intersected with several people who desired the same. A few key people wanted refreshment in their own walks with Jesus and were not part of local churches for various reasons. There are also others who have little or bad experience with formal church, but still have a spiritual hunger for something. We’ve prayerfully got things going this year – meeting every-other-Sunday in homes. We’ve spent a lot of time this year on stories – sharing our own stories, wrestling with Bible stories, listening for God in action stories. Pretty simple really! A significant part of this group is children and it’s been quite a joy to incorporate each of them into experiencing God. Just recently, one of the moms wrote about how refreshing it was to sit outside and talk about God together in the midst of the creation with children coming in and out of the conversation, playing, and experiencing God’s people gathered in such a normal and beautiful way. As we move into 2012, we feel God calling us to now increase the intentionality and give more opportunities to help one another’s discipleship. I promise to write more about this church plant in upcoming months.

The Incubator at The Warehouse

I’ve done a lot of work with The Warehouse (http://warehouse.org.za) this year – a local ministry helping churches address issues of poverty and injustice. I sent a communication a few months ago with quite a bit of how I am helping The Warehouse. Something that has been developing more recently is my work with the Incubator. The Incubator is a Warehouse strategy to help churches identify responses to specific needs in their community – part “research and development” and part “birthing room” – we help churches get their own projects and ministries up and running. This can be through training, helping churches connect with other churches or resources, or assisting in the systemic/logistical needs of these ministries. Churches here often lack the experience or resources to do all this themselves, so we are able to come alongside them as they serve. My role is primarily to help with training, discerning next steps with these ministries in their growth, and finding the ways the Warehouse can bless them most. Currently, we are helping nurture church-based ministries for orphans and vulnerable children, those who have experienced trauma, high-risk youth, an informal settlement, and teen mentoring. You can read more about these here: http://www.warehouse.org.za/index.php/site/overview/C3

Fusion

Fusion is one of the ministries in The Warehouse Incubator. Fusion is a ministry to high risk youth in one of Cape Town’s largest townships called Mannenberg. Drug abuse, cyclical poverty, and gangs are a normal part of life for those who grow up in Mannenberg. The Fusion team are working in the community to find new possibilities for young people with Jesus (http://www.warehouse.org.za/index.php/site/articles/C16). During the past several months, I have had the privilege of working with The Fusion team to better understand what church can look like for the teenagers they are reaching. What are churches to do with gangsters and drug addicts? How can they as a team live as a different kind of community that is attractive and healthy for those they are working with? How can they model and call others to a way of following Jesus that is a beautiful alternative to the life many of these high-risk youth have experienced? This team is living and working in a very hard environment and I have loved talking, praying, and walking with them. They are living out Jesus’ mission here I trust they are doing so a little more effectively and healthily as a result of my training with their leadership.

Missional Cape Town

Cape Town needs a movement of churches – passionate followers of Jesus, seeking God’s Kingdom and living and sharing the Gospel. In a city this diverse, that will take lots of churches, especially those willing to go out, to minister with, to be among – rather than sit and wait for others to show up on Sunday morning! I am fortunate to know a number of people who have heard God’s call and want to start new expressions across the city. We have begun to meet monthly for training, connecting, and supporting one another. It’s actually been so much fun to get together with like-minded missional leaders and we are asking God has we can do more this upcoming year. There hasn’t been a network like this up until now, so I believe it’s significant though only in early days. One of the guys is blogging his journey with church here: http://www.unlearning.co.za I am also working more intensely with St. Peter’s Church in Mowbray (http://www.stpetersmowbray.org.za) – a very old church with a new vision for reaching it’s neighbourhood. I LOVE helping a church that wants to be renewed and have been meeting with the church leaders to figure out what that looks like for them. Melissa has also recently become involved in helping those working with children. St. Peter’s also provides us local accountability, prayer, and backs our missionary work here in Cape Town.

Grip Birkman

While we were working with NieuCommunities, we started using a tool called the Grip Birkman Blueprint to help people understand their spiritual gifts, interests, styles of working, and needs. It’s a really helpful way of self-understanding AND allows individuals to know how they fit and work well with others (whether it’s their church or workplace). A few years ago, Melissa and I went through the training to asses and coach others in the process. In October, we introduced this at The Warehouse. Melissa walked each staff person through their report, asking questions and drawing out their own understandings. I then took the staff through several team-building teachings and exercises together. It has been fun to see light bulbs come on – as individual staff come to see different facets of how God has made them and desiring to better serve in their teams and the organization as a whole. It has also been helpful, as we’ve begun to give no work assignments to staff, giving new opportunities combinations of people based on what they love and are well suited to do.

Thank you for partnering with us this year. Your support and prayer have helped enable us to serve God here in Cape Town. It has been an amazing year and we are looking forward to what God has in store for 2012. We are glad to have you seeking the Kingdom right here with us. Thank you so much!

Arthur for the Stewart5

Posted in Arthur & Melissa Stewart, cape town, church, CRM NieuCommunities, Fusion, grip-birkman, South Africa, the warehouse, Updates | No Comments »

Britain, no match for a rising Brazil

Brazil, home to 200 million people, just passed Britain as the world’s sixth largest economy. China passed Britain in 2006. Russia is closing, and is set to become the world’s fourth largest economy by 2020.

The centre of the world is irresistibly shifting from the West to the Rest.

Better make sure our mission strategies are ahead of the game.

Posted in CRM Australia, CRM CoNext, Steve Addison, Trends | No Comments »

The Queen’s Christmas Message

A highlight of my 2011 Christmas was watching the Queen’s Christmas message.

The Queen wrote the speech herself – one of the rare occasions where she does not turn to the government for advice.

She is still Australian’s head of state.

Before I highlight the actual speech, let’s see how the press in Australia and Britain reported it.

The Queen has used her annual Christmas Day broadcast to speak of courage and hope in adversity.

The BBC

In her traditional televised Christmas message, the Queen said she had been “inspired by the courage and hope” the royal family had witnessed in Britain and the Commonwealth in 2011.

The Telegraph

Queen Elizabeth II has highlighted the importance of family in her Christmas Day message.

The ABC

The Queen has celebrated the importance of the family in her Christmas Day message, describing the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge as her own personal reminder of the value of loved ones.

The Daily Mail

No mention at all of what the speech was building to. The last third of the message focused entirely on the gospel. Perhaps the press excluded this fact in the interest of social inclusion?

Here’s what she actually said . . .

Finding hope in adversity is one of the themes of Christmas. Jesus was born into a world full of fear. The angels came to frightened shepherds with hope in their voices: ‘Fear not’, they urged, ‘we bring you tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

‘For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Saviour who is Christ the Lord.’

Although we are capable of great acts of kindness, history teaches us that we sometimes need saving from ourselves – from our recklessness or our greed.

God sent into the world a unique person – neither a philosopher nor a general, important though they are, but a Saviour, with the power to forgive.

Forgiveness lies at the heart of the Christian faith. It can heal broken families, it can restore friendships and it can reconcile divided communities. It is in forgiveness that we feel the power of God’s love.

In the last verse of this beautiful carol, O Little Town Of Bethlehem, there’s a prayer:

O Holy Child of Bethlehem,

Descend to us we pray.

Cast out our sin

And enter in.

Be born in us today.

It is my prayer that on this Christmas day we might all find room in our lives for the message of the angels and for the love of God through Christ our Lord.

I wish you all a very happy Christmas.

The Queen is a better communicator of the gospel than most of the clerics interviewed over Christmas.

The Queen understands the importance, and the heart of the message of Christmas.

Long may she rule over us. God has saved our Queen.

Posted in CRM Australia, CRM CoNext, Steve Addison, Steve's story | No Comments »

The Queen’s Christmas Message

A highlight of my 2011 Christmas was watching the Queen’s Christmas message.

The Queen wrote the speech herself – one of the rare occasions where she does not turn to the government for advice.

She is still Australian’s head of state.

Before I highlight the actual speech, let’s see how the press in Australia and Britain reported it.

The Queen has used her annual Christmas Day broadcast to speak of courage and hope in adversity.

The BBC

In her traditional televised Christmas message, the Queen said she had been “inspired by the courage and hope” the royal family had witnessed in Britain and the Commonwealth in 2011.

The Telegraph

Queen Elizabeth II has highlighted the importance of family in her Christmas Day message.

The ABC

The Queen has celebrated the importance of the family in her Christmas Day message, describing the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge as her own personal reminder of the value of loved ones.

The Daily Mail

No mention at all of what the speech was building to. The last third of the message focused entirely on the gospel. Perhaps the press excluded this fact in the interest of social inclusion?

Here’s what she actually said . . .

Finding hope in adversity is one of the themes of Christmas. Jesus was born into a world full of fear. The angels came to frightened shepherds with hope in their voices: ‘Fear not’, they urged, ‘we bring you tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

‘For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Saviour who is Christ the Lord.’

Although we are capable of great acts of kindness, history teaches us that we sometimes need saving from ourselves – from our recklessness or our greed.

God sent into the world a unique person – neither a philosopher nor a general, important though they are, but a Saviour, with the power to forgive.

Forgiveness lies at the heart of the Christian faith. It can heal broken families, it can restore friendships and it can reconcile divided communities. It is in forgiveness that we feel the power of God’s love.

In the last verse of this beautiful carol, O Little Town Of Bethlehem, there’s a prayer:

O Holy Child of Bethlehem,

Descend to us we pray.

Cast out our sin

And enter in.

Be born in us today.

It is my prayer that on this Christmas day we might all find room in our lives for the message of the angels and for the love of God through Christ our Lord.

I wish you all a very happy Christmas.

The Queen is a better communicator of the gospel than most of the clerics interviewed over Christmas.

The Queen understands the importance, and the heart of the message of Christmas.

Long may she rule over us. God has saved our Queen.

Posted in CRM Australia, CRM CoNext, Steve Addison, Steve's story | No Comments »

This Christmas, spare a thought, and a prayer, for the persecuted Christians of the Middle East.

We are accustomed to thinking of Christianity as a European religion. Yet until the Islamic conquests of north Africa, the Middle East, Iraq and Iran, Christianity was at least as strong in these regions.

There are Christian communities in Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon and Syria that go back two thousand years. Just as there have been Jewish communities throughout north Africa, the Middle East and Persia (Iran) for thousands of years.

These communities are under gave threat, according to the reports on the aftermath of the Iraq war and the “Arab Spring.”

The killing has begun, and could get worse. In Iraq, about two thirds of its 1.4 million Christians have now fled — being firebombed by the jihadis. Last year, gunmen entered a Baghdad church and killed 58 parishioners. To go to church in Iraq, which Christians have been doing for two millennia, now means risking your life. Baghdad’s Jewish community has now been almost eliminated — by some estimates, half a dozen remain.

Tunisia’s Arab Spring has also let the jihadis loose: a Polish priest was executed recently, and they’re turning on its ancient Jewish community too. This has spread to Egypt, where Coptic Christians have lived in peace with Muslims for generations — until now, with 25 dead in October. Syria’s 1.5 Christians have suffered from the Assad regime as much as anyone, but they now pray for its survival, fearing it will be replaced by Islamic fundamentalists who will start persecution in earnest.

The Arab Spring has unleashed the demon. Power has gone not to the most popular, but the best-organised. This means the hardline Salafis, who follow the same mutant strain of Sunni Islam as al-Qaeda.

This is a war within Islam. The majority of Muslims are appalled at these Christian pogroms. After the Egyptian Copts were attacked last year, Muslim elders sat in the pews when they celebrated their (January) Christmas, acting as human shields. Egyptians changed their Facebook picture to a new logo — the crescent and the cross — to show unity. But the Facebook crowd have lost power to the Holy book crowd: the hardline Islamists are filling the void. The Muslim Brotherhood is well on its way to a new constitution which looks terrifyingly similar to that of Iran.

Posted in CRM Australia, CRM CoNext, Islam, Steve Addison, Trends | No Comments »

The Christmas story from the kids at St Paul’s Auckland

Some background: Mike Norris heads up the team at St Paul’s Auckland. I first met Mike in London when he was on staff with St Mary’s, a church with a church planting vision.

In 2004 Mike and Beck Norris led a team from St Mary’s London to St Paul’s Auckland with the plan to plant a new congregation bring renewal to the whole church.

Looks like things have gone well. I notice Dino Houtas, another good mate from St Mary’s is now on the team.

I haven’t heard if they’re planting churches yet . . . New Zealand need many more Anglican churches like St Paul’s.

via The Primitive Methodist Movement blog

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Only 365 sleeps to go!

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